Blood Ties
by ChestyMcBoobs
Summary: A double murder hits close to home for a new CSI (Eric-OC pairing, Mary Sue-free. COMPLETE!)
1. Default Chapter

Title: Blood Ties (1/?)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: R (for language, violence. Rating WILL go up in later chapters)  
  
Pairings: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Note: Yes, there's an OC in this fic. But I promise, I'm going to keep this as far from Mary Sue territory as possible. Think of Maria as the anti-Sue.  
  
  
  
Feedback: Yes, Please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister ;)  
  
___________________  
  
"So, you said that you found him at around ten-thirty." The young woman leaned closer to the dark-haired teenager across the table.   
  
"Detective Santiago-" The girl's voice was trembling.  
  
"Maria." The woman corrected her. "Roberta, I'm trying to help you. I believe you when you say that you didn't kill that guy. But if you want the other officers to believe it, too, I need you to tell me exactly what happened."  
  
"I...I hadn't been with anyone yet that night, not too many cars were going by me." Roberta began. "So I thought I would move to a different street. I was only there for a few minutes when I saw something in the back of the alley. I went to look and it was him, there was blood everywhere. I tried to see if his heart was beating and the blood got on my hands. He was dead, so I started screaming for help." Roberta broke down then, burying her face in her hand and sobbing. "I didn't hurt him. I didn't even know who he was. Please, I didn't hurt anyone."  
  
Maria reached across the table and took the girl's hand. "I believe you, Roberta, I do. I'm going to do whatever I can to help you." She heard a knock on the plate glass window and looked up. "Excuse me a minute."  
  
_____________________  
  
"She's good." The young man said, watching as Maria took the suspect's hand.  
  
"She's the best undercover vice officer I've seen in a long time." The older man said. "And she may be better at getting information out of witnesses and suspects than anyone I've ever seen." He knocked on the window and beckoned to the young woman. "Which is why it's such a shame we're losing her."  
  
"What?" Sanford looked up.  
  
"I'm cutting her loose." Maria announced as she closed the door to the interrogation room.  
  
"Maria, she's the only witness in a murder case, and at this moment our only suspect." Brody protested.  
  
"She didn't do anything." Maria snapped, glaring at her boss. "She didn't see anything, and she doesn't know anything. And I'll bet anything that what Christopher is holding," she gestured to Sanford. "is the results of her polygraph, confirming what I just said."  
  
"She's right, Jake." Christopher said. "This girl's no use to us. Might as well drop her off back at her corner."  
  
"Uh-uh." Maria shook her head. "First you tear apart the last nerve this eighteen-year-old kid's got left, then you just dump her back on the corner where you picked her up? No. Jake, I want you to get her in touch with some private detectives and adoption agencies, can you do that?"  
  
"She's looking for birth parents?" Detective Brody asked.   
  
"That's right, and all she knows is that their last name is Lopez and they live here in Miami." Maria said.   
  
"Ouch." Brody said, chuckling.  
  
"Yeah. She was working the streets to try and raise some money to hire a detective herself." Maria bit her lower lip slightly. "What do you say, Jake? Can you help her out and have one less girl that we gotta keep an eye on out there?"  
  
Brody considered it for a minute, then nodded. "All right. For you, Maria." He turned sharply and walked down the hall.  
  
Maria exhaled and smiled, savoring her victory for a brief moment before Christopher interrupted, clapping his hands slowly.  
  
"Nice work, Officer Santiago." He smirked. "You know, you've been spending so much time out there dressed like a hooker I sometimes wonder if you've started to sympathize with them."  
  
Maria turned toward him, her green eyes flashing. "Why shouldn't I? I know it's probably escaped a tiny little mind like yours, but those girls out there are human beings."  
  
"Human beings who are breaking all sorts of laws." Christopher reminded her.  
  
"And very rarely because they like what they're doing." Maria said. "That girl in there? A straight A student, former class president, ballet dancer, and a virgin when she came here to Miami, trying to find that one missing piece of herself, trying to figure out where she belongs."  
  
"Uh-huh, there we go." Christopher said. "The search for a place to belong. That one gets you every time, doesn't it?"  
  
"Fuck you." Maria spat. She started to walk away, then turned around. "You know what? Maybe I am trying to figure out where I belong. But I can tell you this much, it ain't here."  
  
______________________  
  
"Anything new on the John Doe in the alley?" Eric asked as he poured a cup of coffee.  
  
"Not yet." Horatio replied. "That could change pretty soon, though. We've got a guy from vice coming over, a Mario Santiago. Apparently he's transferring. Could have some news for us."  
  
Eric nodded. "All right. Meanwhile, I'm gonna see if DNA's got anything for us yet." As soon as he left the break room, he saw a young woman with green eyes and honey-colored hair standing in the corrider, looking lost. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Hope so." She said. "I'm looking for Horatio Caine."  
  
"Oh, he's right-" Eric turned around and saw through the open door that the break room was empty. "Well, he was right there. Uh, you might check his office. Fourth door on the left."  
  
The woman smiled. "Thanks." She put out her hand. "Maria Santiago."  
  
"Eric Delko." Eric shook her hand. "Wait a minute, Maria Santiago?"  
  
"Yeah." Maria looked puzzled.   
  
"Never mind." Eric said. "It was nice to meet you."  
  
Maria raised an eyebrow. "You too."  
  
________________________  
  
Horatio squinted at the memo. "Well, whoever wrote this has pretty strange handwriting...that really does look like an o." He set the slip of paper aside. "Sorry about the mix-up."  
  
"It's not a problem, really." Maria said. "Hell, it's kind of funny."  
  
There was a knock on the door, and Calleigh peered in, Tim, Alexx, and Eric behind her. "You called?"  
  
"I did." Horatio stood up. "Come on in. We've got a new CSI joining us. This is Maria Santiago. Maria, this is Calleigh Duquesne, Tim Speedle, Alexx Woods, and Eric Delko."  
  
"We've met." Eric said. "How's it going, Mario?"  
  
Maria laughed. "Oh, hell. That's gonna stick with me, isn't it?"  
  
Horatio cleared his throat. "Maria, I believe you have some news for us?"  
  
"I got a call from Detective Brody on the way over here." Maria said. "We've got an I.D, not only on our John Doe, but also his killer. The vic's name was Dennis Tate. Around one this morning, a guy called 911 from a motel room, saying he'd picked up a girl and brought her to the motel, and she'd 'started freaking out' on him. She was picked up and brought in for questioning, and after speaking to a lawyer, turned in a signed confession about an hour ago."  
  
"Case closed?" Calleigh asked.  
  
"Looks that way." Maria replied. She grinned. "So, what do we do for fun around here?"  
  
At that moment, the phone on Horatio's desk rang, and he picked it up.  
  
"So, you were in vice?" Eric asked.  
  
"Yeah. Vice. Right here in Miami." Maria said. "And for the record, I'm anticpating every joke you could possibly make right now, and not finding any of them particularly funny."  
  
"Really? Not even-"  
  
Maria shook her head. "Nope. Sorry."  
  
Horatio hung up the phone. "Looks like celebrations will have to wait, ladies and gentlemen."  
  
_____________________  
  
TBC... 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: Blood Ties (2/?)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: Still R in this chapter…  
  
Pairings: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Feedback: Please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister ;)  
  
____________________________________________________________________  
  
"So, what do we have?" Maria asked. She was trying to sound calm, but Eric could see she was anxious.   
  
"Two bodies, a male and a female." Horatio replied as they reached the open front door of the apartment.  
  
"Gunshot wounds." A uniformed officer added. "Their roommates found them like this about half an hour ago." He stepped out of the doorway to allow the team to see into the apartment.   
  
Maria's breath caught in her throat. The TV and couch were visible from the doorway. And on the couch, the bodies of a couple who looked like they couldn't have been out of their teens. The next thing that registered in her mind was the blood. It had soaked their clothes and hair and the couch, and pooled on the floor. The rancid stench of congealing blood and dead flesh hit her full force, and she grabbed onto the nearest thing she could find, which happened to be Eric's shoulder, for support.  
  
"You okay?" He asked, although he could guess the answer. He'd seen that look before.  
  
Maria nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah...I think...no..." She let go of his arm and bolted down the hallway, only making it about twenty feet before she doubled over and retched in a potted ficus plant.  
  
"Oh, shit." Eric winced, going to help his new colleague.  
  
_____________________  
  
"Feel better?" Calleigh asked, handing a bottle of water to Maria, who was sitting on the front steps of the apartment building with Eric.  
  
"Thanks." Maria said. She took a sip of water and grimaced. "Aside from wanting to crawl into a hole and die, yeah."  
  
"Don't worry about it." Eric said, patting her shoulder. "It happens to everyone."  
  
"Yeah right." Maria mumbled.  
  
"No, he's right. Everyone embarrasses themselves somehow on their first day." Calleigh sat down beside them. "Hell, at least you got far enough from the scene first."  
  
Maria's eyes widened. "You're kidding."  
  
"I wish." Calleigh sighed. "All over myself, a detective, and half the evidence. Alexx told me she cried for three hours after her first post. Tim actually screamed like a little girl."  
  
"Speedle? No way." Maria said incredulously. "You're kidding."  
  
"Not kidding. And Delko-"  
  
"I don't think she needs to hear that one." Eric interrupted.  
  
"Oh, you're blushing." Maria teased. "I have to hear it now. Come on, really, what did you do?"  
  
Eric looked at the ground and muttered inaudibly.  
  
"What?" Maria leaned closer to him.  
  
"He fainted!" Calleigh said, a little too loudly.  
  
"Thanks, Calleigh. Really, thanks a lot." Eric groaned. He looked at Maria, who was biting her lower lip. "Go ahead, laugh."  
  
"Maybe later." Maria said, suddenly serious. She winced slightly as she glanced at the apartment building behind them. "They're just kids, aren't they?"  
  
"Jessica Billings, nineteen, and Kyle Eden, just turned twenty last month." Calleigh confirmed. "Turns out their roommates are her twin brother Matt and his girlfriend, Lisa Denton."  
  
"Come on." Maria said, standing up. "You can fill me in while we get back to work."  
  
"You sure you're ready to go back in there?" Eric asked.  
  
Maria took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah."  
  
___________________  
  
"All four of them are sophomores at Florida State." Horatio told Maria. "This is their first place off campus, they moved in two months ago."  
  
Maria nodded as she took off her olive green khaki jacket and tied it around her waist. "Jesus, it's like a damn sauna in here."  
  
"Air conditioner's been broken since Thursday." Horatio explained.  
  
"Which explains the state the bodies are in." Alexx added, swatting at the flies that were buzzing lazily around the bodies. "And the smell. I'm placing time of death between midnight and one AM on Saturday."  
  
"Which happens to be around three hours after Matt and Lisa left for a hotel for the weekend. Apparently the air conditioner wasn't going to be fixed until this morning, and they decided they couldn't handle a weekend without it."  
  
"Didn't seem to bother these two." Calleigh said, indicating the victims. Kyle was only wearing white cotton boxer shorts, and Jessica was in a short silk chemise. On the table next to the couch were several empty condom wrappers.  
  
"So, Matt and Lisa didn't think it was weird that they didn't hear anything from Jessica and Kyle all weekend?" Maria asked.  
  
"They said they hadn't expected to." Horatio replied.  
  
"How about other friends or family members?"   
  
"I can answer that." Tim said as he came out of the kitchen. He held up a Post It note. "Looks like Jessica was supposed to meet someone by the name of Clara for lunch yesterday afternoon." He held up a small address book and pointed out an entry. "Clara Billings. Older sister. Detective Hagen says they've been trying to reach her all morning, but no luck."  
  
"Sounds like we need someone to pay a visit to Clara." Horatio said.  
  
____________________  
  
Eric and Maria drove from the apartment building to the college campus in silence. What was there to say? They were about to tell a young woman that her only sister had been murdered.  
  
"This is it." Eric said finally, looking up at the sorority house. "You ready?"  
  
Maria nodded. In vice, she'd rarely had to deal with bereaved families. But even those few times had been more than enough for her. It broke her heart to see the look on a family member's face when they heard that someone they loved was dead. "I feel guilty." She said out loud. "Like somehow it's my fault."  
  
"I definitely know what you mean." Eric told her as they climbed out of the Hummer and started up the front steps. "I've always figured that there are certain things we're not supposed to ever get used to, and if we do, it's not a good sign. Like how some people think that getting used to seeing horrible things happening on the news can make you desensitized to violence."  
  
"I don't see how anyone could ever get used to this." Maria sighed as she rang the doorbell.  
  
_____________________  
  
TBC... 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: Blood Ties (3/?)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: PG-13 (Language and whatnot. Just ignore the labels in previous chapters, k? It's not R yet, but it will be...)   
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Feedback: Yes, please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister ;)      
  
Note: So, I keep coming up with new ideas for this fic. Way too many to fit in to one fic. So, I've decided that this is going to be the first of a series. That is...if I get enough feedback indicating that you guys want it to be...*hint, hint*  
  
______________________________________________________  
  
"I don't understand." The young woman said softly, burying her face in her hands. After a moment, she looked up at the two CSIs. "I want to see them."  
  
Maria shook her head, sitting down next to Clara on the couch. "I can understand that, but we can't let you. Not right now." She grimaced slightly as she remembered the crime scene. There was no way they could allow a family member to see the state the bodies had been found in.  
  
"Who could have done this?" Clara asked, her voice breaking.  
  
"That's what we're going to figure out." Eric spoke up. "Anyone come to mind who might feel they had reason to hurt your sister or Kyle?"  
  
Clara shook her head immediately. "No one. It seemed like they were friends with everyone they knew." Her eyes widened suddenly. "Is my brother okay?" She asked.  
  
"He's fine." Maria assured her. "He and Lisa are at the apartment, talking to one of our colleagues."  
  
"Where are my parents?"   
  
"They've been called already, they're flying back from New York right now." Eric told her. "Is there anyone else you'd like us to contact?"  
  
"No." Clara said. "The only person I want to talk to right now is Jessie."  
  
________________________  
  
"You all right?" Eric asked on the way back to the scene, noticing that Maria looked pale and tired. Her eyes had a distant, almost dazed look.  
  
"Huh?" She snapped out of it. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine, it's just...this is really different from my old job. Spent the better part of my time in vice strutting around the streets in hotpants and a bikini top. Hey, you just missed the turn!"  
  
Eric blinked. "Whoa. Guess my mind wandered for a second. So, were the clothes provided for you, or did you have to bring your own?"  
  
Maria gave him a look. "Yeah, go ahead and laugh. You try chasing down criminals in four inch heels."  
  
"You know, it's a little disturbing that I don't find that thought more disturbing." Eric tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't.   
  
"Just watch the road." Maria sighed, unable to suppress a smile.  
  
________________________  
  
"Anything new?" Eric asked Horatio.  
  
"Calleigh just dug the bullet that killed both Jessica and Kyle out of the wall next to the couch." Horatio replied.  
  
"Both of them?" Eric repeated. He looked at the bodies on the couch. There was a small, round hole in the back of the young man's head, which was buried in the young woman's neck. Blood had congealed in thick strips, dripping from the girl's throat and mouth to the floor. "So, it went through Kyle's head, through Jessica's neck, and into the wall."  
  
"A hunting rifle." Maria stated, coming up behind the two men.  
  
"A good guess." Horatio agreed.  
  
"Not a guess." Maria replied. She gestured to the bookshelf against the wall. Among the dozens of framed pictures on it, there were several showing the four teenagers in various settings, with rifles and hunting gear. "All four of them were card-carrying members of the Junior Rifle Association. Judging from the trophies, they weren't exactly slouches with those things, either." Indeed, there were a number of trophies displayed throughout the room, although not all of them seemed to be related to hunting.  
  
"So, you think that the brother or his girlfriend did this?" Eric asked.  
  
"Not likely, Tim said their alibis seem airtight. A fellow gun enthusiast, perhaps..." Maria replied, staring at the pictures. In every one, at least one of the four friends was front and center, flashing wide, white-toothed grins. The boys in football jerseys, the girls in field hockey uniforms and cheerleading outfits, Jessica and Kyle as Prom King and Queen, Jessica as valedictorian, Lisa proudly displaying a figure skating trophy, and so on. "God, I do not want to speak disrespectfully of the dead, but am I the only one getting a creepy Stepford Children vibe here?"  
  
"Clara said that the four of them seemed perfect." Eric said, taking a look at the photos.  
  
"So did the neighbors we've spoken too." Horatio added. "They said everyone seemed to think so."  
  
Maria shook her head. "I guess we're looking for the one person who disagreed."  
  
_________________________  
  
It was another hour before the bodies were finally removed. The apartment seemed to be getting hotter every minute, and they still   
  
weren't done processing the crime scene.  
  
"Hey, Delko, take a look at this." Tim said, indicating a picture on top of the stereo.  
  
Eric didn't answer. He'd barely even heard. He was watching Maria, who was across the room, talking to Calleigh. She kept wiping her brow and absently rubbing her neck, clearly uncomfortable from the heat. Wisps of hair stuck to her forehead, and her brown tank top was clinging to her body. As she turned to speak to a detective, her top slipped up ever so slightly, and Eric noticed a small tattoo peeking out under the waistband of her green khaki slacks.  
  
'Whoa, calm down.' He ordered himself. 'Focus. Crime scene. Murder. Gotta stay focused.' He never had trouble staying on task at a scene. It had to be the heat or something getting to him.  
  
"Hey, Delko." Tim snapped his fingers in front of his friend's face, bringing him back to reality. "Still with me?"  
  
"Yeah." Eric quickly turned away from Maria. "You got something?"  
  
"Looks like an indication that these kids weren't best friends with everybody they knew after all." He held up the photo. In it, Jessica, Kyle, Matt, and Lisa were on the beach, looking like they'd stepped out of a Tommy Hilfiger ad, gorgeous, happy, all-American. What set this photo apart from the others, however, was the fifth person in it. Or, what was left of her.  
  
"Looks like someone scratched off the face." Eric said, looking at the headless young woman sandwiched between Jessica and Matt. "With a knife or something."  
  
"The fifth Beatle?" Tim guessed. "Got cut out of the inner circle, or scratched out in this case, maybe didn't handle the rejection too well?"  
  
"Fuck you!" The angry voice of a young man echoed throughout the living room, coming from the kitchen. Horatio appeared in the doorway, shaking his head.  
  
"The brother's getting a little impatient." He explained to the team. "Maria, I hate to put you on the spot like this on your first day, but I spoke to Jake Brody earlier, and he said you were a pro at questioning witnesses. Do you think you could talk to him?"  
  
Maria nodded. "I can give it a try."  
  
_______________________  
  
Neither of the teenagers looked up as Maria entered the kitchen. "Look, I already told you, asshole, I don't know anything." The young man spat bitterly.  
  
"So I heard." Maria replied calmly, sitting across the table from them. "Matt, is it?"  
  
His head shot up, and his eyes widened. "Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, I thought-"  
  
Maria put up her hand. "It's okay, I get it. You've had a horrible day, to say the very least, and I'm very sorry for your loss, but I need to ask you a few questions about Jessica and Kyle." She glanced at the young woman beside Matt, who had barely even blinked. She was just sitting there, streaks of mascara running down her pale face. "Lisa? I may have some questions that I'll need to ask you as well." The girl nodded, but still didn't speak or look at Maria.  
  
"It's okay, babe." Matt said, patting Lisa's hand awkwardly. He turned back to Maria. "I think she's gonna need some more time. She hasn't said one word since we found them."  
  
"I understand." Maria said. "Now, I know Lieutenant Caine probably asked you this already, but had Jessica or Kyle had a falling out with any of their friends recently? Any kind of problem with someone from school or work?"  
  
Matt shook his head. "No, they didn't have any problems with anyone that I was aware of."  
  
"What about this girl?" Eric asked. Maria was surprised, she hadn't heard him come into the room. His hand brushed her shoulder as he leaned across the table and handed a picture frame to Matt, and she felt goosebumps rise on her arm despite the heat.  
  
"Oh my God." Matt said, staring at the picture, at the body with the scratched-off head. "Abby."  
  
___________________  
  
TBC... 


	4. Chapter Four

Title: Blood Ties (4/8)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: PG-13 (Patience! Next part's gonna be R, I swear.)  
  
  
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Spoilers: "Tinderbox," "Freaks and Tweaks"  
  
Feedback: Yes, please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister.  
  
  
  
______________________________________________________      
  
      
  
"So, according to the brother, Abigail Hammond is his ex-girlfriend," Maria filled Calleigh in. For the second time that afternoon, Horatio had asked her to make the trip to the Florida State campus, this time to question a potential suspect, and had sent Calleigh with her. Now, the two women were standing in front of a red brick dormitory. "She and Jessica were best friends all throughout high school. Last year, Jessica found out that Abby had been in a psychiatric hospital for two months when she was thirteen, and was still on medication and being treated for manic depression. She told Matt, and he broke up with Abby and started dating Lisa."  
  
"And Abby blamed Jessica." Calleigh finished for her.  
  
"That's what Matt said." Maria nodded. "He said that Abby seemed okay at first, but that in the past few months, she'd started causing problems, picking fights with all of them and threatening Jessica. So they all broke off contact with her."  
  
"So, we're about to confront a manic depressive about a murder that she may have committed." Calleigh said. "Some first day you're having, huh?"  
  
Maria smiled. "Sometime I'll tell you about the kind of crazies I'd run into on a typical night in vice."   
  
Calleigh raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I want to know." She turned around and waved to Detective Bernstein, who had come along in case Abby didn't cooperate. "Let's go get this over with."  
  
________________________  
  
"Just a second!" A cheerful voice called out when Maria knocked on the door.   
  
The door opened, and a tall, athletic girl with curly dark hair and blue eyes smiled at the two CSIs. "Yeah?"  
  
"Abigail Hammond?" Calleigh asked.  
  
"Abby."  
  
"Maria Santiago and Calleigh Duquesne, Miami Dade PD." Maria said. "We need to ask you some questions about Jessica Billings and Kyle Eden."  
  
Abby's eyes widened. "Are they okay?"  
  
"I'm afraid not." Maria said. "They were found dead in their apartment this morning."  
  
"Shit." Abby gasped, sagging against the doorframe. "How...I mean...oh my God. Are Lisa and Matt okay?"  
  
"As good as can be expected." Calleigh spoke up. "Matt suggested that we come and talk to you."  
  
"Why?" Abby asked, straightening a little. "Does he think that I did it?"  
  
"He said we should talk to you." Calleigh repeated. "Where were you on Friday night?"  
  
"Here." Abby said. "I was here all night, I didn't feel well, so I stayed in and went to bed around eleven."  
  
"Can anyone confirm that?" Maria asked.  
  
"I don't know." Abby admitted. "There weren't a lot of people here, most of them were out somewhere."  
  
"Okay." Maria said. "We're going to need you to come with us."  
  
Abby drew back slightly. "You're arresting me?"  
  
"No." Calleigh said. The look of fear in the girl's eyes made both women feel sorry for her. "We're just going to need to ask you more questions."  
  
"I would never hurt either of them." Abby stated, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"No one's saying that you did." Maria assured her.  
  
_____________________  
  
"That's the ex?" Eric asked as Calleigh and Detective Bernstein passed by him with Abby.  
  
"That's her." Maria replied. "Doesn't look like a cold blooded murderer. Then again, not a lot of them really look the part, huh? Find anything new at the apartment?"  
  
"Hairs and fingerprints that are being compared to the vics', and Matt and Lisa." Eric replied. "And the murder weapon. They kept their guns in a crawl space behind Matt and Lisa's bedroom, and there was one rifle missing. We found it in a dumpster, right below the fire escape." He noticed how pale Maria looked, and how her eyelids were drooping slightly. "Come on." He said, putting his hand on her arm gently. "You look exhausted, let's get you some coffee."  
  
"Lead the way." Maria said, smiling gratefully.   
  
_______________________  
  
"So, what did Abby have to say?" Eric asked, handing Maria a cup of coffee and sitting beside her on the couch in the break room.  
  
"That she didn't do it, of course." Maria sighed, leaning back against the cushions.  
  
Eric studied her face for a moment. "Do you believe her?"  
  
"I might." Maria admitted. "She seemed so surprised when we told her they were dead. So, either she's a really good actress, or...but then again, there's motive, and an unconfirmed alibi. But...I don't know, something's off."  
  
"I was thinking the same thing." Eric told her. Mostly, something seemed off about Matt Billings. Obviously, everyone reacted differently in these situations, but Matt had seemed entirely too calm. When they had spoken to him at the apartment, Eric had noticed him practically leering at Maria when she wasn't looking at him. Leering at her, just hours after finding his twin sister and his best friend dead on their couch. Of course, Eric told himself, it would have bothered him no matter who the kid had been looking at.   
  
"Hey." Maria leaned closer to him. "Earth to Delko."  
  
"Sorry, did you say something?" Eric asked sheepishly, realizing that he'd been completely spacing out again.  
  
"Yeah, I asked you if there was any sign of forced entry at the apartment." Maria replied, rolling her eyes and smiling. She couldn't help but wonder what he had been thinking about so hard.  
  
"No." Eric said. "The door was locked, so were all the windows. So the killer either had a key or was let in. Matt said the only people who had keys were their parents, Lisa's mother, Kyle's parents, Clara, and a few of their friends."  
  
"Including Abby?"   
  
"No, he said she never had a key."  
  
Maria thought for a second. "Well, I guess it's still possible that one of them let her in." She thought back to the scene, to the position of the bodies on the couch. "Except..." She set her coffee down and leaned back against the arm of the couch, keeping her feet on the floor and placing her right arm on the back of the couch, the same position Jessica's body had been in. "Jessica was leaning back sort of like this, right?"  
  
"Right." Eric moved closer to her and leaned in, without even thinking about it. He placed his left hand on the arm of the couch, a few inches from her head. "Kyle was sitting next to her, almost right on top of her, like this. And his right hand was..." He put his right hand lightly on Maria's hip.  
  
"No, it was a little more like this..." Maria corrected, moving his hand up a few inches, so it was resting over her ribcage. She was concentrating, but she wasn't completely unaware of how hot his hand felt through her thin cotton tank top. "And she had her left hand on his upper back."  
  
Eric felt his muscles tense as Maria's hand came to rest between his shoulder blades. "And his head was buried against her neck..." He moved so that his face was barely an inch from Maria's throat. For the first time, he became aware of how close their upper bodies were. He saw her chest rise and fall slowly as she breathed, and noticed that her hair, which had been pulled back at the crime scene, was now hanging loose over her shoulders, slightly curled from the humidity outside. He jerked his head back suddenly, forcing himself to think about baseball, multiplication, anything to calm himself down a little. What the hell were they doing?  
  
Maria pulled back slightly, too, and removed her hand from his back. "They didn't let anyone into that apartment." She breathed, just as the door opened.  
  
"Is this a bad time?" Tim asked, barely concealing his amusement at the sight of his colleagues, breathing heavily and blushing.   
  
"We were just...we were trying to reconstruct the scene." Eric said defensively.  
  
"I'm going to go see how Calleigh and Bernstein are doing with Abby." Maria said at the same time, rising from the couch and walking out of the room as casually as she could manage.  
  
Tim just gave Eric a look, not saying a word.  
  
"Shut up." Eric snapped. "I told you, we were just reconstructing the crime scene."  
  
"I didn't say you weren't." Tim replied calmly. "So, did you figure out anything new?"  
  
"I don't think they let the killer into the apartment." Eric said. "I don't think they were aware of anyone else being there."  
  
"Well, you two were looking pretty oblivious." Tim agreed.  
  
Eric felt like his face was burning. "I'm gonna see if any of those prints we lifted from the apartment weren't from the kids." He stated. Once he was out of the break room, he paused and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath and shaking his head a few times. There was something seriously wrong with him.  
  
"Anything new for me?" He opened his eyes and saw Horatio approaching him.  
  
"Actually, yeah. Maria and I were just...talking, and we both think that the killer wasn't let in to the apartment by the victims."  
  
"Neither do I." Horatio agreed.   
  
"So that means that the killer was someone who had a key." Eric said, relieved that Horatio wasn't going to question how he and Maria had arrived at their mutual conclusion.  
  
"Exactly." Horatio said.   
  
_______________________  
  
"Where's Abby?" Maria asked.  
  
"Bernstein's giving her a ride back to her dorm." Calleigh replied. "She's basically off the hook."  
  
"Really?" Maria said, curious. She'd already been basically convinced of Abby's innocence, but Calleigh seemed to be certain.  
  
"Speed reviewed the security camera tapes from the entrance into the building." Calleigh explained. "We get a pretty clear shot of Matt and Lisa leaving, and after that there were only four people who entered the building, all of them male, and only two who went in after midnight. The images are pretty blurry, though, so I don't know how much help the tape is going to be."  
  
"How about the gun, any prints off of that?" Maria asked.  
  
"Only the ones that you'd expect." Calleigh said. "Two sets were Jessica's, one was Matt's, and there was a partial of Lisa's. None of those were fresh, though."  
  
"So...we're basically back where we started." Maria sighed, leaning against a table.  
  
Calleigh nodded. "For now, anyway." She looked at Maria and saw that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. "It's been a long day. Especially for a first day. Maybe you should get some rest."  
  
Maria smiled slightly. "Uh-uh, I'm not beat yet. Just...a little shaken, I guess."  
  
"That's understandable." Calleigh assured her. "This is your first case. And it's not an easy one."  
  
"It's hideous." Maria agreed. "Freakin' gun nuts." She glanced at Calleigh, remembering that she was in the presence of a ballistics expert. "No offense, of course. I respect guns as much as anyone else. I just don't see why four college kids living in a posh urban neighborhood need to have five of them in their apartment."  
  
"Hey, I agree completely." Calleigh said. "I mean, clearly, they knew how to handle a gun. Doesn't mean that they should."  
  
"They shouldn't." Maria stated. "I mean, those kids would be alive if there hadn't been any guns in that apartment. The killer could have come at them with a knife, but at least they would have had a chance at defending themselves..."  
  
"You know, the angle the bullet came from...the killer stood in the hallway, leaned in, and took that one shot, and that was it." Calleigh sighed, disgust evident in her voice.   
  
"We're gonna get this sick fuck, right?" Maria asked hesitantly. "I mean, I know that there are some cases that just can't be solved, I just can't stand the thought of this being one of them."  
  
"None of us can." Calleigh assured her. "We're going to find out who did this."  
  
"I hope so." Maria sighed. "I mean, the look on Clara's face, when Eric told her that Jessica and Kyle were dead..."  
  
Eric knocked on the door, then opened it slightly. "Hey, H says we should think about packing it in for the night."  
  
"Is he kidding?" Maria asked.   
  
"It's pretty late already." Calleigh pointed out. "And there doesn't seem to be much we can do for now. Graveyard shift's gonna be starting soon anyway. You might as well get some rest. I know I'm going to." She switched off the lamps she'd been using to compare prints. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Oh, and Maria? Welcome to the team."  
  
Maria grinned. "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
After Calleigh left, the room was silent for a moment before Eric spoke. "You're not leaving yet, are you?"  
  
"No way." Maria confirmed. "I'm way too wired to even think about going home."  
  
Eric nodded. "I understand, I was the same way on my first case." He hesitated for a moment, still feeling awkward about what had happened between them earlier. "Do you want to get a drink or something?"  
  
"Sure." Maria accepted gratefully.   
  
_____________________  
  
It barely took any time at all for them to be at ease with each other. Before they even got out of Eric's car at the club, the two of them were laughing like they had known each other for years. They'd already covered family; Maria's mother was Russian, and her father was Cuban. Eric had been pleased to discover one more thing that the two of them had in common. She had an older sister and brother, and a younger half-sister and half-brother from her father's second marriage, to a fellow Cuban immigrant. Maria was a former Army brat, and had done a brief stint in the Army herself. The two of them had compared embarrassing memories, favorite childhood vacations, most painful nicknames.   
  
"So, I guess the military is basically the family business." Maria was saying. "Dad just retired three years ago, he served in Vietnam and in the Persian Gulf. My stepmom, Yolanda, was a Navy nurse for almost thirty years. My older brother Anton is a Navy SEAL, and my older sister Francesca is an F-16 pilot in the Air Force. My half-brother, Estefan, is an Army Ranger, and my half-sister Lara is just finishing her first year at West Point."  
  
Eric was impressed. "Wait, so, your brother is a SEAL, your sister's a pilot..."  
  
Maria laughed. "I know, I know. Throw in a big black guy with a band, and my family is the A-Team."  
  
"Exactly." Eric chuckled. It wasn't the first time one of them had known what the other was about to say.   
  
The club was fairly new, it had only opened within the past two months. It was larger than Descent, more open. Glancing around, Eric reassured himself that there were sprinklers, and he counted six fire exits. Still, he took a few deep breaths to clear his head.  
  
His behavior didn't go unnoticed. "You okay?" Maria asked suspiciously. One long, manicured finger slipped into her glass, lazily stirring the ice cubes and mint leaves. She absent-mindedly brought her hand to her mouth, sucking the liquor off of that finger, then running her hand through her hair. Every movement seemed to be in time with the song that was pulsating in the air, causing the table to vibrate.  
  
"I'm fine." Eric replied. "This is just the first time I've been in a club in about a month...remember when Descent burned down?" He didn't need to wait for an answer. No one in Florida would forget that horrible night any time soon. "Speed and I were there."  
  
Maria's eyes widened. Then she slapped her open palm down on the table. "That's why you guys look so familiar. I saw you in the paper, a few days after it happened. You're those two cops who kept going back in to get people out."  
  
Eric cringed. He'd seen that article. Many, many times. People he hadn't seen since high school had clipped it out of their newspapers and sent it to him, as if he could somehow have missed it. Reporters had been hounding both him and Speedle for days. "Yeah. You know, it's weird...how they said we were heroes."  
  
"You didn't feel like heroes." Maria stated.  
  
"I didn't understand it." Eric said. "Why we were singled out. I mean, there were so many people who were there that night. Why were we the only ones who went back in? The rest of them just knocked each other down trying to find a way out, when they could have just as easily helped each other." He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "The bouncer who started the fire, Danny...he was a friend of mine. I thought he was, at least. I just...I kept thinking that maybe I could have seen it coming. I know that's completely insane."  
  
"It is." Maria reached across the table and lay her hand over his. "But I understand, better than you know. Do you...do you remember, almost three years ago, when a student at Florida State opened fire outside the cafeteria?"  
  
Eric nodded. Another incident that he doubted the state would forget any time soon.  
  
Maria pulled the strap of her tank top aside slightly, to reveal a   
  
scar where a chunk of her shoulder the size of a golf ball had been taken off. "I was a senior.   
  
I was sitting right there when the shots started. I didn't even   
  
notice that I'd been hit until it was over, I just grabbed anyone who was around me and told them to stay low and follow me. We made it to a janitor's closet, and I locked us in and called for help on my cell phone. Later...they told me I was a hero, that I'd saved eleven people. But I couldn't save the guy who had been doing the shooting. I knew him, he'd dated one of my roommates, and we had classes together. I just kept thinking, maybe there were signs that I missed, maybe I could have stopped it...it's taken me a long time to get past that."  
  
"But you did?" Eric asked. He looked at the table, at her thin, small hand on his hand. He slowly turned his wrist and closed his fingers around hers.  
  
"Yeah." Maria replied. She glanced down at their joined hands, then looked up at him and smiled. "I did."  
  
Eric nodded. "In a sick way, it's almost funny, how nine days later, Speed and I were in a barn with H and a detective, there was a murdered meth head in there. And H and I were poking around, looking for some clue as to who the guy was, when he suddenly just looked at me and told me to run. Turns out there was a bomb in there, we all got out, literally, a second before the whole place exploded."  
  
"Holy fuck." Maria gasped. "So, twice in less than two weeks, you and Tim almost got incinerated? Yikes."  
  
"Yeah." He noticed how wide her eyes were. "I'm not scaring you away, am I? I swear, that doesn't happen all the time."  
  
Maria laughed. "I don't scare that easy."  
  
Eric couldn't helped but notice how beautiful Maria looked when she laughed. Not that she wasn't incredibly easy on the eyes already. At least a dozen other guys in the club had been giving him dirty, jealous looks since they had walked in together. He couldn't help it, he liked the way that felt. He had moved a little closer to her, almost without thinking about it. He'd done the same thing earlier in the day, when he'd caught Hagen and Bernstein checking her out. As if he had some right to stop others from looking at her. It was ridiculous, but somehow he couldn't help it.   
  
"You okay?" Maria asked again, this time casting a suspicious glance at the beer bottle in his hand, and the two empty ones on the table. She'd barely touched her drink, and it was her first one.  
  
"I don't know." Eric admitted. He looked at the bottle in his hand, it was still more than half full. "I don't usually drink this much." He didn't want her to think he was an alcoholic, or an overgrown frat boy. "And when I do, it doesn't get to me like this."  
  
"Well, when was the last time you ate something solid?" Maria asked. She leaned over and placed her hands on his face, tilting his head back slightly and looking into his eyes.  
  
"This afternoon...maybe around one?" He guessed. Her hands on him were distracting. Her touch was light, and her hands were soft, but even that slight contact threatened to knock him out more than any number of beers could.  
  
"There's your problem." Maria said. "Give me your keys, I'll give you a ride home."  
  
"How will you get home, then?" Eric asked, taking his keys out of his pocket and sliding them across the table. He'd planned to drive her back to the lab after they were done with their drinks, so she could get her car and drive herself home.  
  
"I'll call a cab." Maria replied. She stood up, grasping his hand firmly and pulling him to his feet. "And I'll leave my address and phone number with you, so tomorrow you can return the favor and give me a ride to work."  
  
"Sounds fair." Eric agreed, letting her lead him across the club to the door.  
  
"It is fair." Maria said. "Come on, let's go."  
  
______________________  
  
The sky opened up, literally, just seconds after they stepped out of the club. In the ten seconds it took them to cross the parking lot, they were both completely drenched. They had to laugh at it, of course. It was typical Florida weather. Just as typical was the fact that the sky was clear again by the time they pulled up to Eric's apartment building. He led her inside and up the stairs to his apartment, laughing with her the whole time about how ridiculous they both looked.  
  
"Do you want some coffee or something?" He offered. "Maybe a dry shirt to put on? We could throw that one in the dryer while you're waiting for the cab."  
  
"Sure." Maria smiled. "And coffee would be nice, too. I think it's all catching up with me, I'm starting to feel a little tired." She sank down onto the couch, one hand rubbing the back of her neck.  
  
"Are you all right?" Eric asked, crossing the room to stand in front of her.   
  
"Fine." Maria said. "Just a little cramp in my back."  
  
He sat down beside her and placed both hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently at first, then applying more pressure when she moaned softly and leaned back against his hands.  
  
"Thank you." She murmured softly, letting her eyes close slightly. "Not just for this, either. I really needed this night, after today..." She sat up abruptly, moving away from his touch. Her green eyes seemed darker as they focused on his face, slowly dropping to his mouth.   
  
Neither of them were the least bit surprised when she leaned in and brushed her lips against his tentatively. He didn't hesitate for a second, he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her against him, crushing his mouth against hers.   
  
At the same time, the two of them had the same thought, although neither of them said it out loud.  
  
She wasn't going to be needing that cab after all.  
  
_______________________  
  
TBC... 


	5. Chapter Five

Title: Blood Ties (6/?)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: R (The usual language, plus some sexual references.)  
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Spoilers: "Dispo Day"  
  
Feedback: Please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister ;)   
  
Jacqueline ~ Huh…what makes you think Maria's gonna behave like a whore? Oh, right, you've read THAT story. Hee. Yes, Maria is quite the anti-Sue, eh?  
  
______________________________________________________      
  
His hand flailed uselessly for a moment before slapping the snooze button on his alarm clock. It felt like he had just fallen asleep seconds earlier. Muttering groggily, he turned over and reached for her...  
  
...and felt nothing.  
  
He opened his eyes slowly. She wasn't there, and the spot where she had been lying beside him was cold. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking around the room. Her purse wasn't on the desk any more, and her clothes, which had been strewn around the room, were gone.   
  
Had she even been there at all? Or had it just been a dream?  
  
No, that wasn't possible. He could still feel her writhing beneath him, could still taste her on his lips, could still hear her gasping his name. Closing his eyes again, he could still see her clearly, her green eyes closing slightly and her head dropping back against the pillow as he pinned her to the bed, thrusting into her slowly, rhythmically.  
  
He never remembered dreams so clearly.   
  
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he struggled to remember how it had all happened. From the first moment their lips had touched, he'd known he was a goner. It had taken every ounce of self-control that he had not to rip her clothes off and take her right there on the couch. He'd held back, decided that he would let her dictate how far they would go. Truth be told, he hadn't been all that surprised when she had pulled him off the couch and led him down the hall to the bedroom. More than anything, he'd been relieved. As much as he had wanted her, he knew he would stop in an instant if she'd asked him to.  
  
She hadn't, of course. In fact, at several points, she had practically begged him not to stop. As if he could have, even if he had wanted to.  
  
And now she was gone, having left some time ago, leaving behind no trace that she had ever been there at all.  
  
He lay down again, this time resting his head on the pillow that she had used. Inhaling deeply, he found the proof that she had been there, the lingering scent of her perfume. He buried his face in it, letting it completely overwhelm his senses, just as she had done only a few hours ago.  
  
________________________  
  
She let the water run over her, not caring that it was freezing. Hell, she needed to cool off.   
  
Part of her wanted to remember every single detail of the previous night. Another part of her wanted to wash away every trace of him that was left on her body, and the memories of what they had done.  
  
It wasn't that she was ashamed. It was the complete opposite, she didn't feel at all insecure or guilty. She had seduced him, and let him seduce her, and loved every minute of it. It had been pure lust coupled with an unbelievable adrenaline rush, and the results had been absolutely mind-blowing. He had left her feeling completely drained and yet immensely powerful.   
  
She loved the way she was feeling. What had happened between them had been wrong on so many levels. They weren't a couple, they weren't friends, they were barely even colleagues, they'd known each other for less than a day. And yet, she just didn't care. And that was the one thing that did bother her. Somehow, it seemed wrong that she could feel so nonchalant about it all.  
  
Feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. She smirked and shook her head at the thought. She had to be losing her mind.  
  
______________________  
  
Tim knew something was up the second Eric walked into the lab. He had a huge, goofy grin plastered across his face, and he was practically strutting.  
  
"I'd say 'good morning,' but from the look on your face, I think that might be redundant." Tim said.  
  
"This, my friend, is a great morning." Eric replied. "Is Maria here yet?"  
  
"Holy shit." Tim muttered, putting two and two together instantly. That certainly would explain Eric's mood. "You slept with her?"  
  
Eric shrugged. "We didn't sleep."  
  
"You've known her for twenty-four hours." Tim said, incredulous.  
  
"It was more like twelve at the time."   
  
Tim shook his head. "Unbelievable."  
  
"Yeah, it was." Eric smirked. He saw the look Tim was giving him. "Hey, clean your gun, then judge me."  
  
"Are you and Calleigh ever going to let me hear the end of that?" Tim asked.  
  
Eric laughed, glad that his attempt at changing the subject had worked. "We nag because we care."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, that's what she keeps telling me. Didn't know you cared that much." Tim said, rolling his eyes. "And don't change the subject-" He looked up and realized Eric was gone.  
  
____________________  
  
"Calleigh, have you seen Maria?" Eric asked.   
  
"Uh, she was in the gun vault a minute ago." Calleigh replied. "She's comparing the murder weapon to a few other guns of the same make, to see if there's anything different about it that might be helpful."  
  
Eric raised an eyebrow. "Was that your idea?"  
  
"I thought of it. But she was the first to actually suggest it." Calleigh admitted. "A girl after my own heart."  
  
"I'm getting nothing." Maria groaned as she shut the door behind her. "We might as well have never found the damn gun, it's useless." Her eyes widened when she saw Eric. "Hey."  
  
"Hey." Eric replied, not really knowing what else to say.  
  
Calleigh looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment. "And now, 'When Awkward Moments Attack.'"  
  
"Don't start, Calleigh." Maria warned.  
  
"I'm just going to go check in with Laura." Calleigh said with a knowing smile. She left the room quickly, leaving Eric and Maria alone.  
  
Eric took a deep breath and broke the silence. "So..."  
  
__________________________  
  
TBC... 


	6. Chapter Six

Title: Blood Ties (7/?)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: This part? Full-on NC-17 for graphic sex. You won't miss anything if you skip this part, so if you're offended by this stuff, don't read it, and if you're under 18...hell, you'll probably read it anyway, won't you? You damn kids these days, no respect for the rules! Why in my day, we had to walk fifteen miles to read smut! Through five feet of snow! Uphill! Both ways! And we were damn grateful for it, too...yeah, okay, I'll stop now.  
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Spoilers: None in this part.  
  
Feedback: Yes, yes, yes! It's like a drug to me, I'm addicted! FEEDBACK! Don't make me beg, cause I will, and it won't be pretty! *pause* Yeah, okay, so I'm totally needy and insecure. At least I'm not a total slut like Maria...  
  
o_O  
  
Okay, said too much...let's just get on with it already!  
  
______________________________________________________      
  
Eric took a deep breath and broke the silence. "So..."  
  
"Yeah...I, uh..." Maria ran a hand through her hair. "Um, there's nothing new, just a lot of dead ends-"  
  
"You left pretty early this morning." Eric said.  
  
"Did I?" Maria asked. "I guess I didn't really notice the time..."  
  
"Well, I woke up around five-thirty, and you'd been gone for a while." Eric told her.  
  
"Oh." Maria said. "Well, I called a cab. I wanted to get back and take a shower, get changed. I don't know how it is around here, but when I was in vice, these two friends of mine hooked up, and they came in together the next morning, wearing the same clothes they'd been wearing the day before, and everyone just tore them apar-"  
  
She was cut off abruptly as Eric grabbed her around her waist and kissed her. Moaning softly, she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and returned the kiss. When they finally broke apart, her back was against the wall, and she had one leg hooked around him.   
  
"I'm sorry." He said, stepping back. "I didn't mean to cut you off, I just-"  
  
"It's okay." Maria assured him, reaching up and straightening the collar of his shirt. "And don't...don't be sorry about last night, either, okay? I don't regret it at all."  
  
Eric touched her cheek gently, brushing her hair aside. "Really?" She was still so close to him, close enough for him to smell her perfume.  
  
"Relax, okay?" Maria sighed, laying her hand on his shoulder. "I had an incredible time last night." She smiled and leaned up so their lips were barely an inch apart. "A really incredible time."  
  
"So did I." Eric admitted, pulling her against him again and closing the small distance between their mouths. He held her close, slowly sliding one hand over her hip and down to her thigh. She gasped into his mouth and arched against him as his hand slipped under her skirt, rubbing her skin gently.  
  
"Wait." She breathed, pulling away slightly. "Are there security cameras in here?"   
  
"Yeah." He said, looking around. He grabbed her hand. "Come on, in here." He pulled her into a small storage room off the main corridor. He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his mind. There were a million reasons why they had to stop. And not a damn one of them mattered to him.   
  
"We...really...can't...do this." Maria managed to gasp out as his lips slowly moved down her throat and across her collarbone.  
  
"I know." He replied, nipping gently at her throat. "I can't stop."  
  
"Good." She tangled her hands in his hair and pulled his lips back to hers.  
  
Tearing away from her to catch his breath, he started unbuttoning her white blouse, pausing to brush his thumbs across the crimson lace that covered her breasts, eliciting a soft moan from her. She arched against him and buried her face against his neck.  
  
He moved his hands down her body to her waist, pulling up her thin knee-length skirt. Hooking his fingers under the thin straps of her thong, gently pushing it down until it fell down around her ankles and she stepped out of it. Kissing her again, he slid his hand between her thighs, groaning into her mouth when he felt how ready she was for him.  
  
"Oh God..." Her breath was coming in short gasps as his fingers stroked her lightly. She whimpered when he applied more pressure. Reaching between them, she unzipped his pants and slipped one hand inside, grasping him gently.  
  
He almost lost his balance when her hand closed around him. Sucking in a deep breath, he placed his hands firmly on her waist and lifted her up, pinning her against the wall as she wrapped her legs around him.  
  
"Maria..." He managed to say as he thrust into her. Her only reply was a sharp intake of breath. Opening his eyes, he saw her hair fall around her shoulders as she arched her back. "Maria, look at me."  
  
Slowly, her eyes opened and focused on him, as she dug her nails lightly into his shoulders and bit her lower lip to keep from crying out. She could feel him throbbing inside of her, and the sensation was almost too much for her. "Eric...please..." She hissed through clenched teeth. She tried to move, but he had her pressed too firmly against the wall behind her. The cold concrete against her back and the heat of his body were making her head spin, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take.  
  
He held her gaze for another moment, then leaned in and kissed her deeply to cover her moans as he began to move inside her, slowly pulling out, then thrusting back in quickly. He pulled back and watched her face as he continued to pound into her, unable to tear his eyes away as she leaned back and let him take over completely. He was almost afraid to close his eyes, afraid that if he did he would wake up, and it would all be a dream. He pushed deeper into her as her nails dug into his arms, almost breaking the skin.  
  
All too soon, he felt her tighten around him, and heard her breathing become faster and more erratic. Over the sound of his own heart pounding, he heard her moaning, and heard his own voice saying her name, over and over.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, Maria managed to lift her head off of Eric's shoulder. "Oh my God." She laughed breathlessly. "I can't believe we did that."  
  
He smiled and kissed her. "I know. We're depraved."  
  
"I'm okay with that." Maria said. She whimpered slightly as he pulled out of her and gently set her on her feet. Not trusting her legs to hold her up, she leaned against him as she buttoned her blouse and smoothed her skirt.  
  
Eric placed his hand on her cheek, tilting her face up and kissing her lightly. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Better than okay." Maria sighed between kisses.   
  
Her beeper went off at that moment, the sound ricocheting off the walls of the small room.  
  
"Damn." She sighed, checking the window. "It's from Calleigh, I better get back upstairs." She looked back at Eric, suddenly feeling shy and even a little awkward. "We'll talk later, okay?"  
  
"Yeah." Eric agreed. He held onto her hand for a moment as she headed for the door, then let go and watched her leave. As soon as the door closed behind her, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, willing his heart to slow down.   
  
_______________________  
  
TBC... 


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: Blood Ties (7/8)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: Back to a PG-13 rating...for now!  
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Feedback: Please! But be nice. If I wanted to be criticized, I'd call my sister ;)   
  
  
  
______________________________________________________      
  
"There you are." Calleigh said. It had been almost five minutes since she'd paged Maria. The younger woman shrugged, but Calleigh noticed a faint blush color her pale cheeks.  
  
"I was in the restroom, okay?" Maria replied. That was at least true. After her tryst with Eric, she had ducked into the ladies' room to fix her hair and smeared make up, and splash some cold water on her face. But she could tell that Calleigh wasn't buying the act for a second.  
  
"Uh-huh. And who was in there with you?" Calleigh asked, winking.  
  
Maria rolled her eyes. "So, why'd you page me? Anything new?"  
  
"Possibly." Calleigh said. "We've got a couple of visitors."  
  
"Who?" Maria asked, following Calleigh into an interrogation room. She stopped in the doorway when she saw Lisa Denton and Abby Hammond sitting at the table, both of them wearing dark clothes and matching fearful expressions.   
  
"We shouldn't be here." Lisa stammered. Abby lay her hand on the other girl's arm. "I mean, no one can find out that we came here." Her eyes darted around the room.   
  
"Lisa, if you know something that could help us figure out who killed Jessica and Kyle, you need to tell us." Calleigh said in a soothing voice as she and Maria sat across the table from the two girls. "I promise, we will do everything in our power to keep you safe."  
  
"Well..." Lisa began. "We don't know anything about who did it...but we need to know something." She glanced at Abby, who continued for her.  
  
"It's just..." Abby took a deep breath. "We almost don't want to know, but we need to...we need to ask you if Jessie..." Her voice cracked and she paused for a moment. "If Jessie was really pregnant."  
  
Calleigh and Maria exchanged looks. "Pregnant?" Maria repeated. She had been present that morning while Alexx had been finishing Jessica's autopsy, and seen the report. "No, she wasn't. Why, did she think she was?"  
  
"Yeah." Lisa said, letting out a long, deep breath. "She told us last week that she was a few days late, and she wasn't sure how she was going to tell Kyle, or her family."  
  
Calleigh glanced between the two young women. "Wait...so, she told both of you? Together? Matt said that none of you were speaking to Abby."  
  
"Well, he didn't know." Abby spoke up. "He didn't want me around, because of my...my problems."  
  
"I see." Maria nodded. "Lisa, did he know that Jessica thought she was pregnant?"  
  
"He might have...I mean, I think I may have mentioned it." Lisa admitted.  
  
"Okay." Maria sat back. Calleigh could almost see the gears turning in the new CSI's head. "Okay, listen, is there anything else you're not telling us?" The girls shook their heads. "All right, now do either of you have any reason to feel that you're in danger? Any reason at all?"  
  
"No. Why, do you think we might be?" Abby asked nervously.  
  
"Well, no." Maria admitted. "But it can't hurt to be cautious. If you'd like, we could have an officer escort both of you back to your apartments-"  
  
"No, that's okay." Lisa said, standing up. "Really, we're fine. We just wanted to know...and now we do, so, we're fine. Thank you."  
  
"Are you sure?" Maria pressed. "You said you don't want anyone finding out you came here. Are you absolutely sure that you don't want someone to escort you?"  
  
"Yeah." Abby said. "But thanks. So, can we go?"  
  
"Yes, you can leave." Calleigh said. "You have our cell numbers if there's anything else, right?" The girls nodded. "Okay, you can go ahead."  
  
Maria stood up after the girls had gone, frowning and running one hand through her hair. Calleigh had noticed that she did that a lot when she was upset or agitated about something. "We shouldn't have let them leave alone."  
  
"I know." Calleigh agreed. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong. "But they're both adults, if they don't want protection, we can't force them. Not without some concrete evidence that they're in danger."  
  
"If I had it my way, women's intuition would be considered concrete evidence." Maria sighed. "Lisa seemed so nervous, but she kept saying that she was fine. And yesterday, when Eric and I tried to talk to her with Matt there, we could barely get her to say two words to us." She paused. "We need to talk to the rest of the team about this."  
  
A knock on the door startled both of them. Calleigh opened the door, and Lisa peered in nervously.   
  
"I...I can't do this." She said, starting to turn around.  
  
"Lisa, wait." Calleigh said. "What's going on?"  
  
"No one can know that I came here." Lisa stated again. She pulled a half-empty water bottle out of her purse. "I bought this on Friday, from a vending machine in the hotel where Matt and I stayed." She handed the bottle to Calleigh and took off like a shot, disappearing down the corridor before either of the women could respond.  
  
Maria looked at the bottle in Calleigh's hand. "Get that tested for drugs."  
  
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Calleigh replied, knowing exactly what was on Maria's mind.  
  
______________________  
  
"Where have you been?" Tim asked.   
  
"Around." Eric replied, pouring a cup of coffee.  
  
"With Maria." Tim guessed.  
  
"Yeah, I talked to Maria."  
  
"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Tim asked, sarcastic.  
  
"Is any of this any of your business?" Eric shot back. "Besides, you could not be more wrong."  
  
"Okay." Tim said. "But I think it's only fair to warn you, your fly's down."  
  
Eric glanced down at his zipper. Seeing that it wasn't down, he realized a moment too late that he'd fallen right into a trap. Busted. "Damn it."  
  
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Tim chuckled. "Come on, H said Calleigh and Maria had something new for us."  
  
_________________________  
  
"So, you think that the brother did it?" Tim asked. "I thought his alibi was airtight."  
  
"So did we." Calleigh said. "But we got the results back on the water bottle that Lisa left here, and it's positive for Rophynol. If she was unconscious, he could have come and gone from the hotel, and she never would have known, she would have thought he was asleep beside her the whole time."  
  
"And there's more." Maria spoke up. "Jessica thought she might be pregnant, and she told Abby and Lisa, and Lisa may have told Matt. The same person who tried to prevent Jessica and Lisa from seeing Abby, because of her history of mental health problems."  
  
"The guy's a perfectionist." Tim said. "And to him, a friend with manic depression, well that's a pretty big imperfection, as far as he's concerned."  
  
Eric nodded, putting the pieces together. "And his sister getting pregnant out of wedlock, at the age of nineteen..."  
  
"All right, here's what we need to do." Horatio stated. "We've got to bring Matt in here and question him again, and we need to find Abby and Lisa, and make sure that he can't get at them."  
  
"I already called Hagen, he's on his way over there to get them now." Maria said. "He should get there a few minutes after they do."  
  
Horatio nodded. "Good work. All right, let's move, we need to get over there and get Matt." He looked at Maria and Calleigh. "Good catch, ladies."  
  
_______________________  
  
Maria leaned back on the couch in the break room, waiting for the Advil she had taken a few minutes ago to take effect. Her head was pounding. When Horatio had left to apprehend Matt, Eric had gone with him, while Maria and Calleigh had chosen to stay behind with Tim. Eric had approached her just before he left.  
  
"How'd you figure it out?" He had asked.  
  
She'd tried to shrug it off. "You saw how nervous Lisa was yesterday. At first I thought she was in shock, but after seeing the way she was acting when she was here, I thought it was pretty obvious that she's being abused emotionally, intimidated." She'd held her breath for a moment, hoping he wouldn't question how she'd recognized and diagnosed the signs so easily.  
  
He'd just laughed. "Man, you are gonna make the rest of us look bad, aren't you?"  
  
"Damn, you caught me." She'd sighed with a sly grin. "Hey, I probably don't need to tell you this, but be careful."  
  
"Always am." He'd assured her. For a moment, he had looked like he was about to kiss her. Instead, he'd just winked at her, then walked away.  
  
Now she was sitting on the couch, anxiously flipping her cell phone back and forth in her hands. Hagen was going to call her or Calleigh as soon as the girls were safe, which should have been some time ago.  
  
"He hasn't called me yet, either." Calleigh sighed as she sat down at the other end of the couch, noticing that Maria was fidgeting with her phone.  
  
Maria shrugged. "I'm sure everything's fine. Maybe the girls wanted to get some stuff from their apartments or something."  
  
Calleigh nodded. "Yeah, that would make sense."  
  
"If we're right about Matt...God, what a sick son of a bitch..." Maria sighed. "If he did this, I mean...he's a fucking psychopath. Do you think he might become dangerous when they try to arrest him?"  
  
"It's entirely possible." Tim replied, hearing her question as he entered the room. "I wouldn't worry, though. We've all dealt with more than our share of violent suspects. Delko will be fine." He said the last part with a smirk that made Calleigh laugh softly, and made Maria blush and sink down on the couch.  
  
"Does the whole damn state know about this?" She groaned, pressing one hand to her forehead in exasperation.  
  
"Those matching 'just been fucked' grins you two have been sporting all day haven't exactly been subtle." Calleigh told her. "Besides, we're CSIs. Give us a little credit."  
  
"Oh my God..." Maria buried her face in her hands. She was unspeakably relieved when Tim's cell phone rang, halting any further discussion.  
  
Her relief faded, however, when she saw the look that crossed his face just seconds after he answered the phone.  
  
"Holy shit." He said. "Yeah, we're on our way."  
  
Calleigh reached for Maria's hand instinctively, but kept her eyes on Tim's face. "What is it?" She asked fearfully. "Speed, what's going on?"  
  
_________________________  
  
TBC... 


	8. Chapter Eight

Title: Blood Ties (8/8)  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?  
  
Rating: Plain old PG-13, for language and whatnot.  
  
Pairing: Eric/Maria (OC)   
  
Feedback: Yes please, yeah, yep, uh-huh, yup, si, oui, etc.   
  
Note: Yep, that's right, this is the end...end of the beginning, anyway. Wait...end...beginning. Crap! That's not right...(supportive inner voice: "Quick, Chesty, move on and they won't notice...") Eh, anyway, I'll try to have the first part of the next story in this series up as soon as possible. Cause that's what I do. I give. I love you all. Send money. (Or just feedback. I'd settle for feedback.)  
  
___________________________________________  
  
Eric closed his eyes for a moment as he turned away from the bloodied girl lying on the floor. He turned his attention to the paramedics who were working frantically on the other girl, who was barely alive.  
  
The voices and hurried footsteps outside the dorm room were a welcome distraction. He had almost reached the door when Maria and Calleigh burst in, followed a moment later by Tim.  
  
"Oh my God." Calleigh gasped. Abby was dead, with a single bullet hole in her forehead. A few feet away, Lisa was spread out on a stretcher, shot in the chest. A handgun lay a few inches from Abby's outstretched hand. "Please tell me you got the son of a bitch."  
  
"They took him out of here a minute ago." Eric replied.  
  
Calleigh leaned against the wall and buried her face in her hands. No one needed to tell her what had happened. "So, Matt was waiting for the girls when they got here, he shot Lisa, then shot Abby, and put the gun next to her to make it look like she'd killed herself. Am I right?"  
  
"Yeah." Eric confirmed. "Looks like he was trying to plant evidence, too, when Hagen came in and caught him. He was trying to frame Abby, to make it look like she had framed him." He noticed Maria was still in the doorway, staring at the puddles of blood on the carpet and rocking back and forth slightly. He approached her and placed his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Where were they taking him?" She asked hoarsely.   
  
"Back to the lab." Eric said. "Look, you did everyth-"  
  
Maria put up her hand to stop him. "I'm going back. Calleigh, are you coming? Looks like they don't need us here."  
  
"Yeah." Calleigh replied, taking one last look at the body before she turned around and followed Maria out.  
  
"I'd better go with them." Tim stated. He'd seen the rage in Calleigh's eyes, and the pain in Maria's. There was no telling what could happen if the two women were left alone.  
  
_______________________  
  
"I drugged Lisa, and left the hotel room as soon as she was out, so she'd think I'd been asleep next to her all night. I had to do something about Jessica and Kyle." Matt was saying. "I didn't want to hurt Jessie. But I couldn't stand seeing her with him anymore. He wasn't good enough for her."  
  
Maria leaned against the wall, glaring at the young man she had felt so much sympathy for just twenty-four hours earlier. Calleigh was seated across the table from Matt, trying to look unaffected as he rambled on. Hagen was at the back of the room, and whether he was there to protect the CSIs from the suspect, or the suspect from the CSIs, he wasn't quite sure.  
  
"When Lisa had told me that Jessie might be pregnant..." Matt continued. "I lost it...I couldn't let her have a baby with him. And they weren't married, don't you know how bad that would look?"  
  
"So instead, you murdered own sister and your friend?" Calleigh asked bitterly. "And then tried to frame an innocent girl, and then killed her and attempted to kill your girlfriend? You think that looks any better?" She turned to Hagen. "Get him out of here."  
  
As Hagen led Matt out of the room, Calleigh turned her attention to Maria, who had barely said a word since they'd left Abby's dorm. Her eyes were downcast, and her face was practically white. She had her arms crossed tightly across her chest, almost as if she was trying to shield herself. It was painful for Calleigh to see her like that. As torn up as she was over Abby's death and Lisa's injury, she had dealt with situations like this before. It didn't make it any easier to accept, but did make it easier for her to accept that there was nothing she could have done. Maria, on the other hand, looked like she had been slapped repeatedly across the face.  
  
"Hey." Calleigh said softly. "We did everything we could. I know you don't believe that now, but-"  
  
"You're right, I don't." Maria interrupted. Before Calleigh could say anything else, she rushed out of the room, fighting back tears.  
  
________________________  
  
"Maria?" Horatio approached the young woman in the break room, as she poured what had to be her tenth cup of coffee of the day. "I thought you would want to know, I just heard from the hospital, Lisa Denton is going to be just fine."  
  
Maria didn't answer, didn't give any indication that she'd even heard him.  
  
"I understand that you're upset." Horatio continued. "It's okay."  
  
"It's not okay!" Maria sobbed, turning suddenly to face her boss. "It's not, she shouldn't have been shot in the first place! Abby shouldn't have died, we should have been protecting them!" Her coffee cup slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Cursing, she knelt down and started picking up the pieces.  
  
Horatio crouched down beside her and helped her clean up the mess. "Well, you're right, none of it should have happened. But it did. Maria, you put the pieces together, you did a good job."  
  
"Not good enough." Maria insisted, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.  
  
"Yes, you did." Horatio assured her. "You're going to be amazing at this job, I can tell. But right now, I think you should take the rest of the day off. Go home, get some rest."  
  
Maria thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay." She said, taking a deep breath and wiping away another tear.  
  
___________________________  
  
"I just saw Maria leaving." Eric said. "Where's she headed?"  
  
"I gave her the rest of the day off." Horatio replied. He frowned and shook his head. "Something about this case really got under her skin, I'm afraid Abby and Lisa being shot only made it that much worse."  
  
Eric had seen Maria's face as she'd left, the sorrow he had seen in her eyes had been unbearable. "H, I'd like to go after her, to make sure she's all right."  
  
"That's fine, Eric." Horatio said, not seeming at all surprised by the request.  
  
___________________________  
  
Maria shut the hotel room door behind her and leaned against it for a moment. Then she kicked off her shoes and opened a drawer in the table, searching for the bottle of migraine pills she kept in there.  
  
When there was a knock on the door, she simply opened it and went back to what she was doing, expecting a cleaning lady or the manager.  
  
"Hey." Eric's voice startled her.  
  
"Hey." She replied, turning around quickly. "Did you follow me here?"  
  
"Yeah." Eric admitted, hoping she wouldn't get mad.  
  
Maria smiled. "I knew there was a reason I liked you. Come on in." She stepped aside to let him in, and closed the door behind him.  
  
Looking around, Eric saw an entire life crammed into one small hotel room. The room smelled like Maria's perfume, and evidence of her was everywhere, brightening the dull, sterile hotel decor. Framed pictures and old magazines covered every surface in the room. The sheets on the bed obviously weren't provided by the hotel. They were satin, a deep shade of red. Similar to the bra that Eric knew Maria was still wearing under her fitted white blouse. Just thinking about it made him feel lightheaded.  
  
"So..." Maria said. "Was there something you needed?"  
  
"Just wanted to make sure you're all right." Eric told her. He forced himself to think about something besides what had happened between them earlier in the day. He was here to check up on her, not jump her. He turned his attention to a large photograph on a bedside table. It had to be Maria's family, he instantly recognized the smile on the blonde haired girl in the center. Only Maria and the tall teenage boy whose lap she was sitting on had light skin and hair, the other three children had the same tan skin and dark hair as the two adults in the picture.  
  
"That was taken when I was eleven." Maria said. "My mom left when I was two, and Dad met Yolanda while we were stationed in Louisiana two years later. Anton and I always felt so out of place, especially after Estefan and Lara were born. People were constantly asking us if we were adopted. Mom sent birthday cards and called once in a while at first, but we haven't heard from her in years."  
  
"I'm sorry." Eric said.  
  
"I'm not." Maria replied, sitting down on the foot of the bed. "I'm not like her, at all. If I didn't look like her, I wouldn't even believe that we share the same blood." She paused and looked up at Eric. "It's weird, isn't it? How blood is one of the only things we all have in common, and yet it's one of the things that makes us all the most different. My mother--God, it feels wrong calling her that- she could just walk away from us all so easily. I...I can never let go, never give anything up."  
  
Sensing that there was more she needed to say, Eric sat down beside her and gently placed his arm around her shoulders.  
  
"I always pushed myself as a kid." Maria began. "I was a classic overachiever, I finished high school when I was seventeen, graduated from college when I was twenty-one. I enlisted in the Army the next day, that was all I'd ever wanted to do with my life. In basic training, I drove everyone insane. Any time someone said I didn't have to do something, or couldn't, because I'm a girl, I had to prove them wrong. And then...three weeks after I was done with basic...I was at Fort Benning, in a Jeep with my friend Blake, he was driving, it...it had been raining, the road was muddy...I don't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital on the base, and they said we'd gone right off the road. Blake was dead, and I had been pinned under the vehicle for almost an hour, the doctors barely managed to save my legs."  
  
Eric cringed, he'd seen the scars on Maria's thighs, but hadn't asked how she'd gotten them, not wanting to pry.  
  
Maria drew a deep, shaky breath before continuing. "They said it would be a long time before I'd walk again, and I'd need to stay in the hospital for months. Of course, after that I would be medically discharged, and completely adrift. And then Adam Grant, this guy I'd dated in high school, came to visit me. I'd broken up with him because he was too possessive, but he swore he had changed, and he promised to take care of me. And, like an idiot, I believed him. And then, like a bigger idiot, I married him. At first, everything was great. Throughout all the operations, the months of physical therapy, he was so loving and supportive..."  
  
Dreading whatever was next, Eric tightened his arm around her. "But it didn't last."  
  
"No." Maria sighed. "The stronger I got, the less sweet he got. If I tried to do something on my own, or went out without him, or anything, he'd go completely psycho."  
  
"You mean he..." Eric didn't want to say the words. He didn't want to even think about anything like that happening to her.  
  
"He didn't hit me." Maria stated. "Not once. I think he was afraid of what my family would do to him if he did, and for good reason. No, his way of keeping me in line was to run me down verbally, emotionally. It was psychological abuse, no other way to put it. He told me that he was the only person who could ever love me, and that I'd never survive without him. And...I guess I believed him. I didn't think I had anywhere else to go, all my life had been about being in the Army, and that was gone. So, I stayed with him for almost two years. I let him fuck with my mind for much longer than I should have. And, finally, I woke up one morning, and I was thinking it would be so easy, just to go into the bathroom and slice my wrists, or swallow a whole bottle of aspirin, or whatever...and then I realized what I was thinking, and it scared me, more than anything else ever had...he wasn't there, so I packed everything I couldn't bear to leave, and took off for my parents' house. Three months later, we were divorced, and I haven't seen him since."  
  
"Jesus Christ." Eric muttered under his breath. "If I ever met that son of a bitch..."  
  
Maria placed her fingertips on his lips to silence him. "You wouldn't do a damn thing. Because that's not who you are. Ever since Adam, my intuition is a lot stronger. And if you were that kind of person, I never would have given you a second look."  
  
"I just don't understand how he could treat you like that." Eric said, running one hand through her hair. "And I don't think I want to understand it, either." He pulled her against him. "Now I get why you were hit so hard by this case."  
  
"There but for the grace of God..." Maria sighed. "I just wanted so much to protect those girls. But you guys are right. I did what I could. Truth is, if it'd been me...I probably would have made the same choice they did." She laid her head against his chest and was silent for a moment. "Horatio said I'm going to be 'amazing' as a CSI. What do you think?"  
  
Eric chuckled. "Well, to tell you the truth, I usually try not to   
  
disagree with H when he's right."  
  
Then she was kissing him. Or he was kissing her. It didn't matter. As she deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around him, he gently lay her back on the bed, slowly moving on top of her.   
  
A minute later, Maria pulled away suddenly. "Shouldn't you get back?" She mentally kicked herself for having any sort of work ethic.  
  
"No, I told H I was going to make sure that you were okay." Eric replied, he leaned in to capture her lips again, but she turned her head and his kiss landed on her cheek.  
  
"Nuh-uh." Maria said. She forced herself to concentrate, even as his lips moved down her throat, and one hand slid under her blouse. "You're not using me as an excuse to slack off." She shoved him playfully, and he finally relented and moved off of her.  
  
"You sure you're all right?" He asked.  
  
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. But then again, if you wanted to come by later, just to make sure..." She ran her hand down his arm lazily.  
  
Eric grinned. "I'll do that." He wanted to kiss her once more, but he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to leave the room for a while, and she was right, he did need to get back to the lab. "I'll see you later." He said as he stood up and headed for the door.  
  
"Bye." Maria replied. As soon as he was gone, she collapsed back onto the bed, physically and mentally exhausted from the day's events. But as she drifted off to sleep, she had a smile on her face.  
  
_________________________  
  
Next time:  
  
"We're not a couple. We're just having fun, that's the whole point."  
  
*****  
  
"Get out! Get her the hell out of here, quick!"  
  
*****  
  
"You're fine now, in half an hour you could drop dead. Don't you get   
  
that? Is it really worth your life?"  
  
*****  
  
"I shouldn't have sent them in there. If either of them dies, it will   
  
be because I made the wrong call."  
  
Stay tuned... 


End file.
